September 13, 2017

Restaurants Serving Traditional Swedish Cuisine

One topic of discussion that often comes up with hotel guests is Swedish cuisine. Most visitors feel like they should try traditional Swedish cuisine when they are visiting Stockholm... but what is Swedish cuisine? There is a big difference between modern and traditional Swedish food culture. Modern Swedish cuisine often follows the same concepts as New Nordic Cuisine: innovative and using local, seasonal often organic produce. Traditional Swedish cuisine is something entirely different. This is our everyday food; traditional dishes that have been around for a long time (sometimes for centuries) and what we often call husmanskost. Our comfort food!

Many of these dishes will be familiar, like (Swedish) meatballs, marinated/cured salmon (gravad or rimmad lax), pickled or fried herring, fish stew, reindeer, black pudding and Toast Skagen. Other dishes will be less familiar, like kroppkaka, Biff Rydberg, löjrom, gubbröra and Wallenbergare (links take you to informative videos made by the Foodie List). Certain dishes or produce are more seasonal... moose, venison and chanterelle mushrooms often show up on menus in the fall, crayfish has a short season in August, goose in November while white asparagus is a spring delicacy.

So, where can you try traditional Swedish cuisine when visiting Stockholm? You have quite a few restaurants to choose from, whether you want a high-end restaurant or a good, casual pub. Here are some that I recommend and which I have split up in three categories: high-end, mid-range and casual/budget. Some serve only traditional dishes while others mix them in their menu with more modern dishes.

The Swedish word smörgåsbord has made its way into many other languages and has come to be synonymous with "a wide variety of things to choose from"... and this is exactly what it is: a buffet style meal where you can choose from lots of traditional warm & cold dishes (including several of the above mentioned dishes). Swedes generally only eat smörgåsbord during major holidays like Easter, Midsummer and Christmas (when it is called julbord). However, you can try the smörgåsbord at the Grand's Veranda. The Christmas julbord, on the other hand, is served at many restaurants in the four weeks leading up to Christmas Eve. Feel like going even further back in Swedish culinary history? Try the medieval restaurant Sjätte Tunnan or the Viking restaurant Aifur, both located in the old town (Gamla Stan).

About Me

Greetings! My name is Sean Naughton and I work as the Concierge at the Rival Hotel, one of the premiere hotels in Stockholm. I am also a member of Les Clefs d'Or. Through both my work and my personal life I get to experience a lot of what Stockholm has to offer... museums, events, sightseeing tours, adventures, spas, restaurants and nightlife. It's lots of information to absorb and I thought that a blog would be a great way to collect this information and share it with guests of the Rival Hotel and other visitors to Stockholm. I will not be listing everything that Stockholm has to offer; instead I will add day by day and week by week my experiences and thoughts exploring this great city, along with practical tips and upcoming events. I hope that you, as a future visitor to Stockholm, will find the information and experiences listed here of use in planning what to do and see during your visit to the "Capital of Scandinavia". For hotel guests: any help or questions, contact me directly at concierge@rival.se. If you are not staying at the Rival Hotel then I would recommend contacting the Stockholm's Vistors Board at touristinfo@stockholm.se
Profile photo by Daniel Lindberg